▪ I. † ˈflipper, n.1 Obs. rare—1.
In 4 fliper.
[f. flip v. + -er1.]
A flippant and unreliable person.
| c 1400 Cato's Morals in Cursor M. App. iv. 7. 1669 For⁓soþ flipers and alle fals flaters I rede sore þou fle. |
▪ II. flipper, n.2
(ˈflɪpə(r))
[f. flip v. + -er1.]
1. a. A limb used to swim with; e.g. any limb in a turtle; in a seal or walrus, esp. the fore-limb; the fore-limb of a cetacean; the wing of a penguin; the fin of a fish.
| 1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland 39 The fore paws or flippers [of the seal]. 1868 Nat. Encycl. I. 955 Their [penguins'] wings are true flippers. 1885 Wood in Longm. Mag. V. 408 The fore limbs of the whale are technically named flippers. |
b. A rubber attachment to the foot used for underwater swimming, esp. by frogmen.
| 1945 Newsweek 17 Sept. 113 (Advt.), He'd organized a spear-fishing party, and this is the proper regalia—glass⁓front mask, flipper shoes, and a..spear. 1953 New Yorker 29 Aug. 17/2 Such paraphernalia..as flippers,..Aqua-Lungs, and snorkels. 1959 Spectator 28 Aug. 251/1 He pulled on rubber flippers to join his wife in the water. 1970 New Yorker 19 Sept. 104/2 Clumping around in frogman flippers. |
2. transf. The hand.
| 1832 Marryat N. Forster xlii, I like to touch the flipper of one who has helped to shame the enemy. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., St. Gengulphus xx, They cut off his ‘flippers’, As the Clerk, very flippantly, term'd his fists. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., The boatswain's mate exulted in having ‘taken a lord by the flipper’. |
3. Theat. ‘Part of a scene, hinged and painted on both sides, used in trick changes’ (Farmer).
| 1928 A. E. Krows Equipm. Stage Prod. iii. 40 The wing-piece for an exterior setting is usually..hinged in two parts... If it is very tall, a small extra section.. called a ‘flipper’, is hinged to one of the larger parts. |
4. U.S. = flapjack (Cent. Dict.).
5. Cricket colloq. (See quot. 1967.)
| 1959 J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Australia 36 He [sc. Benaud] varied his attack with a leg-break..a well⁓disguised bosie and an excellent flipper. 1967 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl., Flipper, a top-spinner delivered by the bowler with an extra flip of the fingers. |
6. Comb., as flipper-like adj.
| 1889 P. H. Emerson Eng. Idylls 133 Holding their shaking sides with their brawny flipper-like hands. |
▪ III. flipper, v.
[f. flipper n.2]
intr. To move by means of flippers.
| 1955 A. Ross Australia 55 ix. 122, I saw green turtles surfacing sadly in pairs, soon flippering away as if in disappointment at the weather. 1969 Look & Learn 15 Mar. 35/1 Knowing that his harpoon gun was useless against two such killers, Frankie flippered for the raft. |